Posts Tagged ‘cult film’

Shadows Cinema, the Astor, ACMI and the Rooftop Cinema have all flown the flag of cult films, and continue to, for a while. Good news is that the Westgarth, that ever charming delight of old-school cinema, has joined the throng, being a perfect complement to Movie Reel for the home viewer.

Their Cult Vault series screens for $10 a ticket, and the upcoming May theme seems to be chock full of schlock for horror fans. Look at their upcoming films here:

HK & Martial Arts, Classics from 1940s to 1970s, Films of Great Directors

It’s one of those shops you really don’t find much anymore – where product placement hasn’t yet slimed its insidious way into the shop arrangements, slickness and strategy are lacking completely. Comparing Inferno to alternaculture counterparts like Minotaur, it seems almost quaint and old fashioned in decor. If it’s like the shop time forgot visually, that’s because all the effort is going into the video, cd and DVD selections. Inferno sells CD albums, compilations and soundtracks from psychedelia to heavy metal – always with an emphasis on the alternative. Their selection of CDs is smallish though and by no means comprehensive. What they do have an astonishing range of is actual new Videos of cult cinema. In the day where it seems to be DVD or dodo, it’s really rare to see such a comprehensive range of new videos. I’m not sure whether they’re legit or dubs, but regardless they’re sitting there on the shelves, winking at you. DVD or video format – whichever you prefer there’s a jaw dropping array of schlock horror, fantasy and art house films on display. My partner’s cultometre was going crazy over the horror/scifi collection of zombie, robot and killer alien films, plus an impressive array of Russ Meyer sexploitation. My aesthetic spider senses were tingling over the arthouse collection from Europe and the UK 65 to 75: films like the Quiller Memorandum, Fellini’s Satyricon, staples like Quadrophenia, Performance, Blow Up, Get Carter. They also stock second hand cult books: including rarities, film books, and a whole lot of other sections you’ll just have to explore for yourself. The obligatory collectables abound: magazines, metal cases, rare packaging, figurines etc sit behind the counter squashed into a monolith of dreams,the occasional discernible name or title peeking out like a diamond in a coal stack – except in this case what is diamond and what is coal is definitely in the eye of the collector.

Open odd hours during the week and weekends, it is definitely worth seeking out Inferno – it sits resolutely between the narrow cracks of the major chain stores by maintaining its idiosyncratic obsessive collector’s approach. It differs from counterpart further down Elizabeth Minatour by aiming unashamedly at a more specific collector crowd and in many ways a more adult demographic interested in the truly obscure. Of course, their second hand section is also lovingly curated.

A weighty and impressive kookster anachronism in the gloss-age of the 21st century and all the better for it.